Juande Ramos may have lost his first Clasico, but the Real Madrid coach is still confident that his side can revive their season...
Juande Ramos could not have asked for a tougher game to start his La Liga career at Real Madrid, and although his side emerged with some credit, they still failed to win any points. After the match, however, Ramos was far from despondent.
When asked if the title race was over for Los Merengues, Ramos said, "You have to take one match at a time in football. It's a substantial lead, but there is still a lot of La Liga to be played and it depends a lot on how others teams do.
"Barcelona proved to be in excellent form, but let's see what happens in the second half of the season when there is also the Champions League to be played."
He then went on to analyze the game: "I am satisfied with the display of football put on by my team. They did what they had to do with pride and generosity and we came close to a better result. Barcelona capitalised and we didn't, so they got the three points.
"Barca dominated on the ground, but we had better chances. The match would have been completely different had we scored first," continued Ramos. "Matches last ninety minutes and goals can be scored at any moment. Conceding a goal on 37 minutes and with the end so near does hurt, but goals are what determine what takes place on the pitch."
Ramos was then asked whether he had given his team orders to hurt Messi, an allegation he vehemently denied.
"No. Messi will always play with the ball at his feet and is therefore more likely to get injured. There was no form of aggressiveness in this match."
Unlike previous Real Madrid managers, Ramos also had plenty of praise for the referee.
"Referees have an important and difficult job to do and I think he did as best he could. It was a great performance on his part."
Finally, Ramos explained the decision to start with Wesley Sneijder and replace him with canterano Miguel Palanca just past the half hour mark.
"We decided to play Sneijder because we are short on players and we needed to risk it. We decided he would play until he couldn't any longer. Palanca did very well."
When asked if the title race was over for Los Merengues, Ramos said, "You have to take one match at a time in football. It's a substantial lead, but there is still a lot of La Liga to be played and it depends a lot on how others teams do.
"Barcelona proved to be in excellent form, but let's see what happens in the second half of the season when there is also the Champions League to be played."
He then went on to analyze the game: "I am satisfied with the display of football put on by my team. They did what they had to do with pride and generosity and we came close to a better result. Barcelona capitalised and we didn't, so they got the three points.
"Barca dominated on the ground, but we had better chances. The match would have been completely different had we scored first," continued Ramos. "Matches last ninety minutes and goals can be scored at any moment. Conceding a goal on 37 minutes and with the end so near does hurt, but goals are what determine what takes place on the pitch."
Ramos was then asked whether he had given his team orders to hurt Messi, an allegation he vehemently denied.
"No. Messi will always play with the ball at his feet and is therefore more likely to get injured. There was no form of aggressiveness in this match."
Unlike previous Real Madrid managers, Ramos also had plenty of praise for the referee.
"Referees have an important and difficult job to do and I think he did as best he could. It was a great performance on his part."
Finally, Ramos explained the decision to start with Wesley Sneijder and replace him with canterano Miguel Palanca just past the half hour mark.
"We decided to play Sneijder because we are short on players and we needed to risk it. We decided he would play until he couldn't any longer. Palanca did very well."
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